Mining excursion tragedy leaves six students dead in northern China
In a tragic turn of events, six students from Northeastern University in China lost their lives in a mine accident that took place at a copper-molybdenum ore-dressing plant operated by China Gold Group Co. in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia. The accident occurred on Wednesday morning, July 23, 2025, around 10:20 a.m., during a study visit to the plant.
According to reports from the state news agency Xinhua, the students drowned when the grid plate they were standing on collapsed, causing them to plunge into a flotation tank. A teacher accompanying them was also injured. Despite being pulled out of the tank, all six students were later pronounced dead by medical personnel.
The incident has sparked widespread attention and criticism regarding the safety measures at the mine, with related social media hashtags trending and garnering over 100 million views on Weibo within an hour of the news breaking. Local authorities, the university, and the mine operator are managing the follow-up work, promising to handle the matter diligently.
This latest mine accident is one of many that have occurred in Chinese mines due to lax safety standards. Despite significant improvements in safety protocols and more transparent reporting of accidents over the past few decades, fatal accidents remain frequent in the mining industry, often attributed to weak enforcement of these safety regulations. Weak safety enforcement continues to be a critical issue, contributing to occasional serious incidents despite overall progress.
Sources: [1] Xinhua News Agency [2] China Gold Group Co. [3] Northeastern University [4] Local authorities in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia [5] Various social media platforms, including Weibo
- I'm not going to be able to focus on my education-and-self-development and general-news topics today, as the tragic mine accident in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia, has left me deeply affected.
- As a responsible citizen, I calls for stronger crime-and-justice measures in Chinese mines, following the frequency of fatal accidents, such as the recent one at the copper-molybdenum ore-dressing plant, attributed to weak safety enforcement.
